Twilight Boundary-Chapter 557 - 548: The Arrival of the Hungry Ghost Army
The Hungry Ghost Army arrived in the vicinity of Mingzhou Prefecture at dawn on the second day.
Groups of people appeared around Mingzhou Prefecture. They were clad in tattered clothes, wielding broken spears and wooden sticks, and carrying iron plates on their backs. Emaciated, their hollow eyes seemed to glow with a ghostly blue light. Everyone nearby was thoroughly terrified.
The villages they had passed through were barren. Grain jars lay smashed. The hundreds of people in those villages who hadn’t managed to escape seemed to have vanished completely.
Before reaching Mingzhou Prefecture, they merely glanced at the high city walls before turning away. They focused on setting up large pots at the city’s edge, using dismantled door frames and boards as firewood to cook porridge and meat.
As the food steamed, some couldn’t control their swallowing, rushing forward to grab the food without hesitation, seemingly unafraid of being burned. Some ate in such a hurry that they suddenly choked and fell to the ground.
The surrounding people seemed to turn a blind eye, merely gathering around. So quickly did they converge that the body of the fallen person was soon hidden from view.
"What on earth are those things?"
Yang Gong, leading a troop and Jinzui the Think Tank, approached from afar to observe. A single glance sent a shiver through his heart. Most of those people did not appear strong or trained; they resembled refugees or beggars.
Yet the dark aura around them inexplicably induced fear, their numb faces, thickly coated in grime, provoking an instinctual dread.
He gritted his teeth, took an arrow from a nearby man, drew his bow full, and shot towards the group that stood about a hundred feet away, showing no reaction to their appearance.
These beings appeared more dead than alive, save for occasional movements. One should have fallen from the arrow. Unexpectedly, they remained still, only catching the arrow with their mouths just as it reached them.
They chewed slowly, grinding the arrow shafts into small pieces and swallowing them. When they couldn’t chew the arrowheads, they spat them into the fire pit.
From start to finish, they didn’t even bother to turn around for a look, showing no concern for who had shot the arrow.
Life among them was both fragile and savage. Fragile, as if they could drop dead at any moment; savage, as if countless lives could be snuffed out by their hands at any time. Yang Gong, a Disciple of Red Fragrance once known for his own wickedness, paled in comparison.
As he slowly lowered his bow, his gaze was somewhat astonished. He felt that these beings before him looked human, yet were utterly Non-human.
More terrifying than ghosts, more sinister than demons.
"They are hungry ghosts."
In response to Yang Gong’s astonished inquiry, the nearby Iron Mouth sighed softly, saying, "Ghosts born from unbearable hunger. They consume everything in their path, leaving not a single grain, not even bone fragments unchewed."
"A state, no matter how blessed, would be destroyed by their arrival. Now, they will never feel full again, not even if they eat until they burst."
"After all, only a living person can be satiated, and they no longer count as such..."
He spoke softly, his voice somewhat suppressed as he looked up into the misty morning that blanketed distant Mingzhou, where more groups of tattered people were gathering. "They must have come from Official Zhou. I have some allies who have been watching them."
"However, they shouldn’t have appeared in Mingzhou so quickly; neither the time nor the route is right. I suppose some people helped them..."
"Those people are increasingly ignoring the rules."
"Although, these rules were initially set by them..."
Simultaneously, within Mingzhou Prefecture, incense smoke filled the entire city. It enveloped streets and alleys in an eerie, illusory atmosphere. Every household kept its doors shut, no one daring to peek out. Even the ancestral tablets enshrined within homes were covered with black cloth.
It was necessary; they always dreamt at night of ancestors weeping, terrified the Lord might see them and summon them to serve by His side.
On this cold and empty street, where even tavern banners hung limply, the Heavenly Destiny General was tightly bound. He was brought before an incense table in the city, where a middle-aged man sat behind it, clad in a Magic Robe, his hair disheveled, a sword at his side.
This Heavenly Destiny General, still grieving the deaths of the Altar Master’s followers, shouted angrily, "What exactly do you want? You brought me to Mingzhou! You assured me of this and that..."
"Yet ultimately, my brothers perished one by one here, and now you want to bring me back—"
"Silence!"
Confronted with his tirade, the middle-aged man behind the incense table slowly opened his eyes. He shouted sternly, "It was you who, on your own accord, brought out such an evil object as the Hundred Child Cauldron! Otherwise, why would it have summoned the Walking Ghosts to perform sword-catching?"
"Never mind him; even we would find it hard to tolerate such an evil object."
"Now you complain about the tragic deaths of your men? Do you realize that if we hadn’t invited the Lord to retrieve you to the city, ten of you would have been dead long ago?"
"Me...? Dead?"
The Heavenly Destiny General, Zhong Benyi, was clearly dissatisfied. He gritted his teeth, saying, "I know you all understand some evil skills. When I was in Official Zhou, I saw it plenty. Any wicked Magic was scattered like stray dogs before a charge of soldiers!"
"It’s just a pity you lured me here. Rootless and without backing, the men I’ve gathered are a motley crew. If my own soldiers were here, I’d like to see who in this land of Mingzhou could stand against me for even a single round!"
"Haha, what you say isn’t entirely unreasonable."
Listening to him gnash his teeth, the man behind the incense table revealed a cold smile. "Taking advantage of the chaos in Official Zhou, the Truth Sect did indeed train a formidable troop. The ’Heavenly Destiny’ in your title as General wasn’t yours; it was granted by those soldiers."
"But since you put it that way, you may have your wish. Go out and see. Your long-cherished Hungry Ghost Army is now outside the city."
"Hmm?"
Upon hearing these words, the Heavenly Destiny General suddenly looked up, his face full of disbelief.
Ever since entering Mingzhou, he had wanted to bring his hundred thousand soldiers over. However, these people wouldn’t allow it, so for the sake of his men’s survival, he had been forced to agree.
Hearing this now, he naturally didn’t believe it. Even if these people had changed their minds and were willing to let his men in, there wouldn’t have been enough time. His men were all starving. Such a long journey, crossing states and counties, would take at least a month, wouldn’t it?
"Indeed, they’re outside the city."
The person next to him, whose face was somewhat kinder, said, "Not only have we brought your people, but also the twelve Human Demons from your sect."
As he spoke, his voice turned suddenly cold and severe. "Everything you wanted is here. The constraints we placed on you are lifted. But this being the case, you surely remember what we asked you to do, right?"
Hearing this, the Heavenly Destiny General snapped his head up. Disbelief was still on his face, but as he met the other’s gaze, his breathing deepened. He said abruptly, "That kowtow—I will give it to him."
"My head can also be his... as long as you fulfill what you promised..."
"What you ask is the simplest thing for us..."
The person behind the incense table let out a cold laugh and gestured with his hand. The ropes binding the Heavenly Destiny General suddenly came undone. After a moment of shock, he leaped to his feet.
He ran like mad, straight out of the north gate of Mingzhou Prefecture. There, he saw the hills and plains covered with countless beggars—clusters upon clusters of hungry ghosts.
"They really came?"
He stared at these people, his eyes suddenly turning red.
The numb and indifferent hungry ghosts, though aware someone had arrived, didn’t even lift their heads at first. Then, slowly sensing something, they eventually raised their heads. Their faces, numb and devoid of all expression, showed a hint of emotion.
Suddenly, with great effort, they stumbled up from the ground.
One by one, slowly and painstakingly, they crawled in front of him to kowtow.
Following their lead, more people noticed the Heavenly Destiny General. They struggled to drag their bodies forward to greet him. Some even managed a forced, fawning smile, laboriously retrieving a dark, lumpish object from their rags.
It was a severed hand.
They kowtowed, offering up the severed hand. After all, he was the only one who had repeatedly pleaded for grain on their behalf when the famine began in Official Zhou.
GRUNT, GRUNT...
Amidst this silent, oppressive atmosphere, a frantic, beast-like howling suddenly erupted. Looking from afar, one could see cages bound with iron chains. Pulled by dozens of horses, they came tumbling and rolling, thrown directly into the crowd.
Inside the cages were creatures that looked like beasts, their eyes red.
The Heavenly Destiny General abandoned the ox and stumbled frantically towards them. Using all his strength, he tore open the cages. The creatures inside nearly burst out, their jaws snapping towards him.
But he seemed immune to pain, merely hugging their heads. "Brothers! Brothers! It was I who asked you to stay and look after these people. I failed to bring grain back. You would be right to eat me!"
These creatures slowly regained their senses. Finally recognizing him, they immediately recoiled in fear, forcefully spitting out the bloody foam from their mouths. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖
Full of guilt, they dared not lift their heads to look at him.
"Let’s go!"
The Heavenly Destiny General scanned the monsters emerging from the cages, then looked out at the thirty thousand hungry ghosts covering the hills. His expression shifted from painful despair to unprecedented, icy ferocity. "Gather everyone!"
"I’ll lead you all to a full meal!"
RUMBLE!
The thirty thousand hungry ghosts all began to move. An intangible aura emanated from them, so powerful it seemed to shake even the Magic Altar that enveloped the entirety of Mingzhou City.
"Second Uncle, Third Uncle..."
Meanwhile in Mingzhou City, the Hu Family’s elder sister finally couldn’t hold back her words as she looked towards the men at the incense table. "Doing this..."
"It’s different from what we discussed when we first arrived, and..."
"...is there any room for retreat?"
"There isn’t."
The two uncles behind the incense table, along with their younger brother—the "little uncle"—standing beside the offerings, all looked at her. They smiled faintly. "He refuses to meet us. That leaves us no choice."
"He is but a child, yet he holds the Zhensui Mansion. We shall see if he truly knows how to wield its power!"
